Pregnant and craving salt!

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Runnermadre
Runnermadre Posts: 267 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Lately I have been craving a ton of salty foods. It's almost like I can't get enough. Even being prego I've been tracking my food, but the sodium levels have been through the roof lately! Usually about double the recommended levels. I don't really know what to do about it. It's easy to say just make healthier choices, and normally I can just use my will power, but I'm really having a strong drive to eat the saltier foods. Any other ladies have a similar experience? Do you think it's ok as long as it's not long term? I went through this with my last pregnancy, and the doc just shrugged and basically said it's a hormone thing. I would love to hear your thoughts and experiences!

I just wanted to edit to add that I'm at the very beginning of my second trimester if that matters to anyone. :-)

Replies

  • alapoint89
    alapoint89 Posts: 632
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    i used to crave the beer salt and would eat a bottle a week or less
  • Runnermadre
    Runnermadre Posts: 267 Member
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    What is beer salt?
  • Demwitted
    Demwitted Posts: 163
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    Salt is a common craving. That's why pregnant women crave pickles and olives. Just be sure that you are drinking plenty of water with your salty foods. I had a major olive craving during the first 3-4 weeks, but it went away. I'm on sweets now, especially lemonade :)

    I think it's ok as long as you BP stays normal and it sets well after you eat it.
  • cyndy1214
    cyndy1214 Posts: 22 Member
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    Use healthy salt in your meals...Sea salt. The salt in pickles and olives is not real good for you.
  • daffodilsoup
    daffodilsoup Posts: 1,972 Member
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    Use healthy salt in your meals...Sea salt. The salt in pickles and olives is not real good for you.

    Sea salt is actually no better or worse for you than other salts, it's really just a matter of taste. Pickles are a delicious and low-calorie way to satisfy a salt craving!
  • barenda_101
    barenda_101 Posts: 18
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    Salt is a common craving. That's why pregnant women crave pickles and olives. Just be sure that you are drinking plenty of water with your salty foods. I had a major olive craving during the first 3-4 weeks, but it went away. I'm on sweets now, especially lemonade :)

    I think it's ok as long as you BP stays normal and it sets well after you eat it.

    This is correct. Your body is very good about regulating internal salt concentrations when properly hydrated (and with functioning kidneys, but that is a different story). The salt craving is likely because the little one growing is drawing a fair bit of it from your body and you need the salt to replace it. Pickle it up. Be sure to get both sodium and potassium based salts - they work as a pair in cell function.
  • Demwitted
    Demwitted Posts: 163
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    Use healthy salt in your meals...Sea salt. The salt in pickles and olives is not real good for you.


    http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/salt-dont-ban-entirely

    iodized salt is essential for fetal brain development according to WebMD.
  • zenthebird
    zenthebird Posts: 46 Member
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    Ask your doctor next time you are in. And go take your blood pressure at your local pharm.
  • Runnermadre
    Runnermadre Posts: 267 Member
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    Salt is a common craving. That's why pregnant women crave pickles and olives. Just be sure that you are drinking plenty of water with your salty foods. I had a major olive craving during the first 3-4 weeks, but it went away. I'm on sweets now, especially lemonade :)

    I think it's ok as long as you BP stays normal and it sets well after you eat it.

    This is correct. Your body is very good about regulating internal salt concentrations when properly hydrated (and with functioning kidneys, but that is a different story). The salt craving is likely because the little one growing is drawing a fair bit of it from your body and you need the salt to replace it. Pickle it up. Be sure to get both sodium and potassium based salts - they work as a pair in cell function.

    Can you give me some examples of sodium vs potassium based salts? This is new to me.
  • barenda_101
    barenda_101 Posts: 18
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    What I'm trying to get at is that table salt is sodium chloride. Many other types preservatives are based around potassium instead of sodium. You can also get potassium from a lot of other places. Mostly commenting on the fact that when you crave salt, don't entirely stick to adding table salt (or sea salt or blah blah) to foods to get it.
  • Runnermadre
    Runnermadre Posts: 267 Member
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    Thanks!
  • iamvillanueva
    iamvillanueva Posts: 63
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    I had this bad for my pregnancies! If I saw a Mcdonalds, I would u-turn in the middle of the street to get those salty fries! Of course, you don't want to do that. I actually found that eating salty foods helped with my morning sickness. Cheeze-its were also my friend. You can also try light microwave popcorn. My doctor said it was normal and not to worry about it, so I didn't. Of course, it was no fun getting rid of all that french fry weight!
  • Runnermadre
    Runnermadre Posts: 267 Member
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    I try not to worry about it too much, just like I try not to stress over getting a few too many calories, but since I've actively been using MFP since February, it's so hard to not see those numbers and freak out!

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